12-26-2008, 06:50 AM
Hi Lack- this device might assist with both the rat control and keeping peace in the neighborhood (linked in the suggestion reposted below from the thread "best bait and trap for mongoose?" in Folder D: Farming & Gardening in Puna). I have more of an aversion to use of poisons than to shooting vermin, myself, but in the interest of good neighbor relations maybe there is a middle way?
"In Alaska we were having problems with squirrels getting into structures, chewing on sheetrock and wires, and making huge messes in attic spaces so set some traps. These traps are highly effective and several times stronger than they actually need to be to instantly kill any squirrel triggering the mechanism.
We had the traps screwed to buildings under eves way up high where a ladder was needed to reach them, but I have thought these traps would probably be useful for mongoose and rat control, both, down on the ground. The traps are pieces of stainless steel pipe which (for added safety and target-specificity) can be placed inside crates with holes in the crates just big enough for mongoose and rats to pass through but filter out and exclude cats, small dogs, and other such non-pest critters. MAKE COMPLETELY SURE THE TRAPS ARE PLACED SUCH THAT SMALL CHILDREN CANNOT GET A HAND INSIDE! Likewise, I am thinking the pipe traps could be placed inside rockpiles and buried under planks with holes just big enough for mongoose and rats to pass through but exclude farm animals and pets. Be careful with these, as they will seriously break your hand if you reach inside one while it is cocked. Best to wear leather gloves while cocking them, too.
http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page1599.html
These traps are humane inasmuch as there is an instant kill and no suffering on the part of the animal- bang! Lights out.
PS - In the YouTube video clip showing how to cock the trap the guy keeps sticking his finger down by the trigger where the crossbar could nail it. Not a good idea. Even with gloves on I'd recommend keeping pointing fingers clear of that bar outside the pipe. The trap is more powerful than it looks in this clip. The "bait" he is talking about is a sticky paste of nuts and pecan paste (like pecan pie filling, but more viscous) they sell. Globs of that paste will stick to the top of the inside of the pipe trap, right over the plate the animal steps on to set it off. Squirrels, at least, dive straight for the stuff ...but it also smells like delicious candy to a human nose even from several feet away so, again, make sure you have the trap inside a milk crate hinged on one side and padlocked on the other to a piece of plywood or otherwise rigged so little kids cannot get at it. The pecan paste bait would be very attractive to small children as well as to rats or (I'd think) to mongoose."
A whole thread full of suggestions potentially useful to rat control is located at http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6347
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"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
Pres. John Adams, Scholar and Statesman
"There's a scientific reason to be concerned and there's a scientific reason to push for action. But there's no scientific reason to despair."
NASA climate analyst Gavin Schmidt
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Edited to provide correct link URL.
"In Alaska we were having problems with squirrels getting into structures, chewing on sheetrock and wires, and making huge messes in attic spaces so set some traps. These traps are highly effective and several times stronger than they actually need to be to instantly kill any squirrel triggering the mechanism.
We had the traps screwed to buildings under eves way up high where a ladder was needed to reach them, but I have thought these traps would probably be useful for mongoose and rat control, both, down on the ground. The traps are pieces of stainless steel pipe which (for added safety and target-specificity) can be placed inside crates with holes in the crates just big enough for mongoose and rats to pass through but filter out and exclude cats, small dogs, and other such non-pest critters. MAKE COMPLETELY SURE THE TRAPS ARE PLACED SUCH THAT SMALL CHILDREN CANNOT GET A HAND INSIDE! Likewise, I am thinking the pipe traps could be placed inside rockpiles and buried under planks with holes just big enough for mongoose and rats to pass through but exclude farm animals and pets. Be careful with these, as they will seriously break your hand if you reach inside one while it is cocked. Best to wear leather gloves while cocking them, too.
http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page1599.html
These traps are humane inasmuch as there is an instant kill and no suffering on the part of the animal- bang! Lights out.
PS - In the YouTube video clip showing how to cock the trap the guy keeps sticking his finger down by the trigger where the crossbar could nail it. Not a good idea. Even with gloves on I'd recommend keeping pointing fingers clear of that bar outside the pipe. The trap is more powerful than it looks in this clip. The "bait" he is talking about is a sticky paste of nuts and pecan paste (like pecan pie filling, but more viscous) they sell. Globs of that paste will stick to the top of the inside of the pipe trap, right over the plate the animal steps on to set it off. Squirrels, at least, dive straight for the stuff ...but it also smells like delicious candy to a human nose even from several feet away so, again, make sure you have the trap inside a milk crate hinged on one side and padlocked on the other to a piece of plywood or otherwise rigged so little kids cannot get at it. The pecan paste bait would be very attractive to small children as well as to rats or (I'd think) to mongoose."
A whole thread full of suggestions potentially useful to rat control is located at http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6347
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
Pres. John Adams, Scholar and Statesman
"There's a scientific reason to be concerned and there's a scientific reason to push for action. But there's no scientific reason to despair."
NASA climate analyst Gavin Schmidt
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Edited to provide correct link URL.
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Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
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Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(